


Project Pioneer

by smalllatte



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Edward Elric Swears, Edward Elric in hero school, Gen, POV Alternating, Post-Promised Day, Quirk Theory (My Hero Academia)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28066401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smalllatte/pseuds/smalllatte
Summary: “Conduct in-depth analysis of the current world,” looking up from the folder in his hand, incredulous, Ed asked. ”What the hell is this? Just one sentence?”“Fullmetal, it is called pioneer for a reason.” Mustang sat behind his desk in his new office, gloved hands rubbing his temple. “Amestris has fallen behind the world so far that we need to scramble forward to catch up. We’ve no idea what we’re dealing with. It is your job to find out anything important that we need to know.”Ed stared at his superior officer for a few seconds before he shrugged. “Okay, so no guidelines. No directions. Nothing. I can do whatever the hell I want.”And to Ed’s shock Mustang just nodded.
Comments: 68
Kudos: 387





	1. A Hero

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by the alice_cavallary's The (Quirkless) Alchemist  
> All characters belong to Horikoshi Kohei and Arakawa Hiromu.

Edward stares at the five different sized body scanners dumbly, jaw drops.

When Ed had first stepped outside of the border separating Amestris from the world, he had been totally amazed yet greatly intimidated by the sheer absurdness of quirks. Quirks have so many variations, it changed the whole human race to a point that people possessing animal appearance are becoming totally normal. No one bats an eye on them and they function like normal humans. Facilities are even designed to accommodate people with different shapes of body, quite literally. 

Still, he stares. Holding on to his old wooden suitcase like a lifeline because the sight before him is just too ridiculous —

“Sir, please place your bag on the belt here, electronics out.”

“Right.” Muttering an apology, Ed steps forward hurriedly to grab two empty baskets. He dumps his suitcase and the newspaper he got on the flight in one basket, before fishing out his phone from his coat pocket to another. He watches the luggage conveyor belt carry them through the security scans before looking up. 

Instead of the standard _single_ metal doorway of body scanner he saw in the U.S. and Germany airports security, five of them stand before him. All of them vary in size ranging from two-foot to ten-foot tall. A guy with an insanely long neck walks through the tallest one with absolute ease. 

_What the hell_.

A part of Ed has kind of expected these kinds of things. He’d done his research on Japan. Being the country with the highest quirk-integration rate in the world, obviously Quirk has been seamlessly immersed in every aspect of people's lives here. It’s a nation who built its systems around Heroes after all. That’s why he chose Japan as his destination in the first place. But still, five of them? Isn’t it a bit much?

“Sir, you can walk through the middle one, it fits your size. Then you can collect your bags.” The security guy gestures him towards the six-foot-tall body scanner.

For once in his life, Ed is treated as an average height individual and he’s not sure if he is annoyed or not. More so when the machine beeps alarmingly loud when he just steps through the scanning doorway. This happens every time. Sighing, he pulls his left pant legs up.

“It’s just my metal prosthetic.”

“Let me take a look. You got other metals on you? ”

“Just my leg.”

“Alright then. You’re good to go.”

Grabbing his suitcase, Ed marches forward to this new world, not hearing the voice calling behind him.

“Wait, Sir. Your newspaper — ?”

In the basket, the newspaper lay forgotten by the blond, on the front page the bolded title read:

**“World’s Famous Hero ALL MIGHT: Back to Japan!”**

_*_

_Two months earlier_

Edward Elric from a year before might have never heard of what an aeroplane was, not to mention taken a flight. But then the Promised day happened and finally Al’s body was restored. After that, the new Fuhrer Grumman decides it’s a great time for the country to say hi to the world after a hundred years of isolation. 

A brand new start, he said. 

So Ed was kicked out of Amestris with a mission. 

‘Kick’ maybe too strong of a word, because Mustang had actually asked for once if he wanted to go. Seeing Al was still recovering and understood Ed’s need to stay close to his little brother, alive and in flesh. He had a choice. But in the end, it’s Al himself who nearly begged Ed to comply, because it turned out that he couldn’t stand seeing Ed start moping around the house. 

“Brother, please,” Al was sitting up on the bed, grabbing onto Ed’s warm and flesh right hand with a slight frown. “Don’t worry about me, I am recovering but you don't need to hover around me all the time.”

And no. Ed wouldn’t call it _mope_ , he wasn’t moping. He just had a lot of free time on his hand and he had no idea what to do with it. All his life, he had put everything he had to try to right the mistakes he made when he was eleven. Now that Al finally got his body back, he found that he had never thought about what he wanted to do afterwards. He’d never been sure there would be any ‘afterwards’.

Ed felt lost. 

“You should go find something that you enjoy, brother. Even without alchemy, there’s a whole world out there.”

There probably is, it’s just that Ed doesn’t really want to leave Al alone. 

In any other cases, Ed would have done just that and stayed by his recovering brother side no matter what he said. But then there were times when his little brother thought no one else was looking, Ed would catch him staring at his automail leg with an unreadable expression. With a heart as kind as his brother, he could guess what Al’s thinking. And Ed didn’t want him to think about risking something he shouldn’t for his leg. All he had ever wanted is getting his little brother’s body back. He was content for the outcome. If he’s honest, Ed would even say he should be keeping the metal leg as a reminder. 

So he considered what Al said to him. Perhaps finding something to do had its merits, if it let them move forward from thinking something that couldn’t and shouldn’t be changed anymore.

What exactly did he want to do? Without alchemy, without Al besides him. What could he do? Well, Ed had always been an act first think later kind of guy. When in doubt, he keeps moving forward. 

Therefore, when Mustang mentioned the mission to him, he accepted.

They called it the Project Pioneer.

“Conduct in-depth analysis of the current world,” looking up from the folder in his hand, incredulous, Ed asked. ”What the hell is this? Just one sentence?”

“Fullmetal, it is called pioneer for a reason.” Mustang sat behind his desk in his new office, gloved hands rubbing his temple. “Amestris has fallen behind the world so far that we need to scramble forward to catch up. We’ve no idea what we’re dealing with. It is _your_ job to find out anything important that we need to know.”

Ed stared at his superior officer for a few seconds before he shrugged. “Okay, so no guidelines. No directions. Nothing. I can do whatever the hell I want.” 

And to Ed’s shock Mustang just nodded. “You need to send back reports regularly, tell us everything you have learned. Fund is also provided when you need it.”

“If you told me that sooner I may have accepted this mission right away.” This sounded too good to be possible and Ed was waiting for the catch. 

“It’s not that simple. Unlike previous missions we assigned you, this is a long-term one.” Nodding towards the folder in Ed’s hands, Mustang pointed out. 

“See it as a pre-ambassador program sort of thing. The military needs you to act as a guide, before Amestris establishes any kind of ties to the other countries formally. You’d be the one familiarizing yourself with the outside world first,” drumming his fingers on the desk, Mustang continued in a serious tone. “For that, you need to be aboard for an unforeseen amount of time. There’s also no guarantee that we would be able to reach you if anything happens, considering the geographical distance. You would be totally on your own.”

So accepting this mission practically meant moving out of the country. No wonder Mustang asked him to think about it. Ed probably wouldn’t be back in Amestris for a long, long time, which also meant he wouldn’t be able to see Al. That indeed doused Ed’s high spirit. 

Ed turned his focus back to the documents; Expense reimbursement forms, templates for proposals, support request forms...Ugh, all paper works. 

“Why me?" Ed asked, closing the folder forcefully before it could give him a headache. "I am obviously not an ideal choice for any diplomatic attempts.” 

He had an inkling of why but he wanted to hear the official one. Mustang’s mouth twitched up but didn’t deny his words. The bastard. 

"The main reason is the one thing we are the most uncertain about, quirks.”

Right, quirks. 

It’s said that 80% of the global population now possess a Quirk.

Despite the high population of quirk users in the world, exceptions do exist in certain places. Scientists reckoned it had something to do with the genetic lineage of the race, affecting the evolution of the gene. Or either the environment or certain human behaviors suppressing the quirk factors. But no one was certain, just as no one’s sure what caused the appearance of quirks.

Power imbalance put quirkless people at a disadvantage by default. Facing the threats, there’s few things these places could do except keeping their head down, which was why they isolated themselves for protection. 

Amestris was one of them, a hundred years ago.

“So, they want someone with an alchemy background to deal with _quirks_ ,” Ed paused, that reminded him, “and my pocket watch is going to expire soon.”

White-gloved hands resting under his chin, Mustang agreed. “Yeah. The Fuhrer wants to keep your State Alchemist status. That’s pretty much the best way to do it, sending you out. You have the knowledge, and you are still doing research despite not being able to use alchemy anymore. Two birds in one stone.” 

Ed frowned at the implication of Fuhrer Grumman wanting to keep him in the military but Mustang continued before he could think too much on it.

“They were also aiming for a low profile personnel. No one wants to alert other countries before Amestris is ready for any formal political interactions. And while I understand this may be opposite to your styles of things, your age did give you a definite advantage and — “

What.

“ — a pipsqueak like you would actually attract less attention — ”

The _fuck!_

“Ugh! Damn it, why did I agree to this shit?” Flinging the documents on the desk, Ed shoved himself away from the table. “I am leaving!”

He has grown! He’s sixteen and he’s still growing!

“Besides, you need it. I think Grumman wants to thank you for your service for the past few months.”

“Shove it, bastard.” But the retort was half-hearted as best, because he really needed it. Didn’t mean he’s going to admit that.

Mustang just collected back the scatter papers on his desk before standing up and handed the folder back to him.

“While we try to build things back up here, we got you outside to bulldoze a new path for us. Sounds like something right up your alley.” The guy even gave him a smile.

Yeah, it certainly did. He had been doing that since he was a kid.

So he just grunted back as a response.

“And Fullmetal?”

Ed paused on his way out of the office.

“Try to not get into too much trouble when I am not there to wipe your ass, will you?” Despite the words, Ed knows this is Mustang’s way of trying to say ‘please take care of yourself and don’t get killed’ to him. So he replied without any fire.

“Fuck off.” Flipping a two fingers salute, he yanked open the office door. “Just take good care of Al for me.”

“Sure, runt.”

The resulting bang of the door was so loud that it nearly drowned out the chuckling coming from the office. Almost.

*

Musutafu is a small town. 

When Ed chose here to settle in, he hadn’t thought too much about it, he kind of just followed his instinct. 

He had been briefed on the mission of course. It’s clear that there weren't any official guidelines. His CO just told him to send back everything he learned. And the Fuhrer expected this mission to help Amestris power through this difficult post-promised-day period. 

Ed doesn’t care too much about all that political bullshit. 

What he will be doing is what he always does best. Research. 

The moment Ed stepped out of Amestris he knew that technology had already advanced way much more than he can imagine in the world over the years. He could see it everywhere, the transportable phones all people have on hand, the crazily high resolution TV they got, transport in the air, hell even robots. 

All the new gadgets were confusing at first, but after two months of flying around the globe on and off, using the fund provided as he pleased, Ed got the hang of it. He purchased a phone and found that the Internet existed. From then on, he soaked up all the information like a sponge. He's always been a fast learner. And really, technology wasn’t that hard to understand, they still follow the laws of the world and Ed’s a total expert on that. Most of the time you don’t need to understand how things were made to be able to use them anyway.

But Quirks? That is a totally different matter. 

Ed thinks one of the most annoying things about quirk is the weird tingling feeling around his body every time someone uses their quirks around him, which is all the damn time. It feels like there’s some kind of itch under his skin, or the static on his clothes during winter waiting to zap him at any moment. It is distracting.

Still, he finds himself thunderstruck by the astonishing complexity and uniqueness of each and every quirks, their abilities can span from all parameters. He would even say they were creative, if he believed there’s a God sitting above all making up all of these abilities like a show. But there’s no God. So the shock of everything kind of just gives him a serious pounding headache. 

In times like these he misses his alchemy even more. He wishes there’d still be sparks dancing around his fingers when he claps. Breaking down the compositions and reforming them with a touch. It would be something logical, something familiar and soothing to grab on to. The flow of matters, the equivalence, the circles.

Nothing about Quirks makes sense.

But that’s why Ed is here, to make sense of things.

So he chose the most quirk-integrated country to go to. Went to the city where the most famous hero in the world is rumored to be at and rented an apartment right next to the most prestigious hero school. A great plan, Ed is almost proud of himself. He’d be in the center of people throwing quirks around in no time. Excellence for sampling.

That’s why after Ed finally rounded up his notes and walked out of his newly moved-in apartment to find something for his grumbling stomach for the afternoon, the crowd of people gathering outside of said hero school attracted his attention. 

What he sees makes him grin like a total mad man. Let him rephrase, he is a total genius. This is an absolutely brilliant plan.

The big banner on top of the school gate writes: 

**U.A. High School Registration Day**

Heroes — he’d been the Hero of the People since he was 13, how hard can it be, right? Hell, he’s even at the right age for school. Ha! He can't believe his luck.

Before Ed knows it, he already weaves through the crowd with ease and reaches the secretary lady sitting in front of the table under the banner. 

“Excuse me,” Ed asks, eyeing all the leaflets placed on the table in different languages. Wow, there’s German and English ones too. “I am a foreign student. Is there any way for me to register for your school?”

Said lady looks up to him with a smile and to his gratitude answers him in English. ”Sure! UA accepts international students as well as locals. Usually the locals applied through their middle schools directly though. So for students like you got to hand in the forms to us in person within the registration period.”

Taking the forms the woman handed him, Ed thanks her and picks up the leaflet written in German.

“Just bear in mind that all our courses are conducted in Japanese. For foreign students, they need to pass a language test at the entrance exam.”

Ah. That can be troublesome. Ed learned German fast because it’s kind of similar to Amestrian, and he picked up some English at a record-breaking fast speed just out of need. He did it but it was a pain. Does he need to learn another _already_? 

“When is the entrance exam?”

“It is scheduled at the end of February.”

Ed eyes widened. “That’s in like, ten months?”

“Yeah. Just before the next school year starts. So you’d have plenty of time to study.” She answers with a wink.

Ten months. It sounds like such a long period of time. Never had Ed spent so much time in life doing nothing but _study_. Well, maybe when Teacher threw Al and him to a deserted island, but that was just one month. Everything he did always had a time limit so tight that he seldom had the privilege to take things slow. 

Perhaps it’s a good thing though, considering he’s trying to enter the most famous hero school in a foreign country. 

He looks down at the registration forms. 

That particular small blank space on the form stares back right at him.

_Quirk (Please describe it in simple words):_

Because languages aside, he needs to figure something out for his quirkless plus alchemy-less status.

*

The answer comes to him in the most unexpected way the same afternoon. After taking the forms, he goes to the busy shopping district down a few streets to find some treat for himself. The food in Japan is simply heavenly, he’s been here less than a week and he’s completely hooked already. He is more than prepared to fill his stomach to the brim with those delicious octopus balls they had after such a fruitful day.

What he isn’t prepared for is the sudden sound of explosions wrecking through the whole area and the windows shattering around him. The ground shakes from the impact and he loses his footing for a moment before instincts kick in. He ducks out of the way before glasses from above can rain down on him. 

Spinning around, he sees the source comes from two streets down. Fire and smoke are rising up from there and people are screaming and running away from that direction. 

And there it is again, that tingling feeling on his skin. Ed is sure the explosions come from a quirk. A strong one too if the damages around is any indication.

_Villains?_

He sneaks down the alleyways towards the next street. Taking a few turns at the corners and he finds it. On the other side of the alley is the center of the chaos. A few feet away from him, there’s a big mass of green gloop in the middle of the street with its form constantly deforming and merging among the fire. Held down in the middle of all that mess is a kid dressed in a middle school uniform, who is writhing and struggling to break free. All the while the kid is releasing powerful explosions from his palms. 

The wave of heat blows back the hair around Ed’s face. And the power makes all the hair on his skin stand on end. Releasing a breath, Ed resists the urge to rub his hands together to get rid of that crawling feeling.

Despite the damages around him, it doesn’t seem like that disgusting mass of slime is growing any weaker. And the kid is starting to have a real struggle for breath.

Ed weighs his options. He sees the police tape separating the gathered crowd at the end of the street. There are Pro Heroes on scene, but all they do is put out the fire, which is useless considering the one causing the fire is still exploding things. And he sees cameras. It’d be best if he avoids them. 

Dumping his half finished snacks in the bin, Ed dusts off the crumbs on his hands.

From this angle, he needs something solid and sharp to pierce through the slime to attack the villain’s face, the only weak point he can see for now. If only he can transmute a spear out of the ground. It would be really handy. Then an even bigger explosion rocks the earth, and that close to the blast it catches Ed’s off guard. 

He put his hand on the wall next to him to steady himself.

For a moment, Ed can’t comprehend the feeling at his fingertips. The vision only registers in his brain half a second later. Still, the sight doesn’t make any sense so he fails to respond to it. Bright, blue electric sparks are dancing around his hand and the tip of a stone spear is forming out from the wall. 

"What—?”

When his body catches up to what is happening, it’s even worse because to his horror, the shock of it makes him pull back his hand, cutting off whatever is happening. 

The feel of sudden vertigo courses through him like stepping on nothing but mid-air, spreading through his limb like lightning and his breath catches in his throat. Before he knows it, blue sparks turn to sickly purple and the wall in front of him explodes outwards right at his face. He barely raises his hands in time to block the debris as the force drives him straight into the wall behind him and pain blossoms on his back. A pained grunt torn from his throat.

When he manages to blink away the wave of dizziness, he looks past the dust and smoke surrounding him and is silently glad that what happened doesn’t seem to attract too much attention.

They probably think it’s that kid’s explosions. 

He gingerly picks himself up a moment later. Panting, he grabs onto the rubble to support himself. He can’t seem to get his heartbeats under control, whatever happened —

Fuck, he’s certain that was a rebound. But how — ?

“Kacchan!” The desperate voice brings Ed back to the scene before him. There’s another kid with forest green hair running straight to the villain. 

And what followed after happened so fast that by the time Ed manages to get his bearings again, the number one hero All Might is already standing right before him. What he says lost to him thanks to the language barrier. But he does recognize the name of his famous move.

“DETROIT SMASH!”

This time, Ed takes a gamble and claps his hands, slamming one of them to the wall behind him. A big stone palm shoots out catching himself before he can be blown away by the sudden strong wave of wind. His braid and coat billow around him as he uses his arm to block the whirling debris from his eyes. 

Squinting through the wind, he watches the looming figure of the world famous hero. One fist pointing to the sky while wind howls around them, the two middle school kids clasps in his other hand, signature smile in place. It looks like a scene came straight out of those posters he saw in those hero merch stores. 

This is the first time Ed seeing a hero in action by his own eyes. And perhaps it’s the adrenaline of all that happens in such a short amount of time. The sight left him strangely breathless.

Then the moment passed and Ed’s legs buckled. If it isn’t for the stone fist still supporting him he would be crumpled on the floor. 

_What just happened?_

He has no idea what just happened. 

Among the wind and the rains that follows afterwards, Ed is left staring at his own hands as well as the transmuted stone in front of him. 

He gave up his Gate to the Truth in exchange for his brother in that blinding white space months ago. And _he knows_ Al is alive and whole, he had made absolutely sure about that during the time he spent smothering his own little brother in the house. Yet, clenching his hands into fists, he felt a distant kind of dread forming at the pit of his stomach.

Because if he can perform alchemy, what does it mean to the equivalent exchange he made months ago?

Despite the turmoil on his mind about this new discovery, he managed to drag himself away from the site quietly before anyone can see him. There’s a sudden, deep fatigue settling in his bones and he can’t seem to keep his eyes open. 

Why is he so tired? He had fought battles way worse than this. 

As he stumbles his way back to his apartment, Ed thinks he caught a pair of ruby eyes glancing his way. But that’s a problem for another time. Fumbling for the door, the last thought he had before passing out on the floor, is that maybe, finally, he can fill in his UA registration forms now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first crossover on FMA and BNHA. I planned to work on more chapters first before posting but I couldn't stop myself from going back to recheck everything like a maniac for a thousand times. I've read and re-read this chapter to a point I feel sick of seeing it. So here it is.
> 
> English isn't my native language so please let me know if there's any mistakes in grammar or the dialogue. I will try my best to finish the next chapter soon. Hope you enjoy the story!
> 
> (p.s. This is my first time doing an inspired work. I'm not sure would it be rude to put in an official 'inspired by' without permission. So for now I just credited it in my beginning notes. Please let me know if this is ok >< Thanks for reading!)


	2. A Quirk

Waking up on the floor at the entryway in your own apartment is not a pleasant experience. 

His back feels like it has been run over by a train and his ribs ache from being jabbed by the elevated stair he had sprawled upon beyond the front door. Groaning, Ed picks himself up off the floor and curses out loud as pins and needles crawls up his leg.

It is pitch black outside.

Fumbling for the light switch, it feels like years before he manages to drag himself back to the living room and plops down on the second-hand couch with a heavy sigh. 

Thankfully, the screen of his phone isn't cracked and it reads:

11:24 p.m. 

Ed blinks. He vaguely remembers it's sunset by the time he staggered back home. 

“What the absolute fuck.” He groans out, resting his forehead on the arm of the sofa to ease his headache.

How come he can pass out for _six hours_!? 

He’d like to believe there’re very few things that can unsettle him anymore after going through all of the shit in the military but apparently, he was wrong, because this makes his stomach churns with unease. 

Well, who can blame him? The more he thinks about it the more it makes his skin crawl. It’s not like he doesn’t know the Truth and its cruelty. Right now, the only thing that is keeping him from jumping straight on a flight back to Amestris to check on Al is the fact that he didn’t see any Gate, or the creepy, laughing face of Truth back in the alley. 

Still —

Grabbing his phone, he dials the second number on his contact list. It rings for about half a minute before a nice mechanic lady's voice drifts out. 

“The number you have just dialled cannot be reached at the moment — ” Cutting the call, Ed sighs. He knew it, why the hell would Al still be in Mustang office at 11 in the evening? 

Forcing himself out of the sofa, he shuffles to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

From what he has last heard, his brother should have left Resembool last week and already settled into the Central. He knows Al would be helping out in the Central Command during the day but he should be back in the dormitory by now. On second thought, he will fly there personally to beat Mustang to death if he finds out the bastard let his brother work till _eleven_ in the office. 

Even so, there’s no other way he can contact Al directly. 

His mobile can only reach three Amestrian numbers for now, all of them already on his contact list without the landline number of Al's dorm. New ones require setting up connections and the process is gruelling and time-consuming which cannot be done within a few days — honor of being the first person making international calls to Amestris in a century. There’s still one number he can call, but...

Closing his eyes, Ed takes a deep breath and lets it out. _Chill out_.

Gulping the water down his throat, his stomach grumbles. Fuck. He hasn’t even had dinner, but then a bath sounds much more appealing than food at this point. 

As he peels off his dirty red coat in the bathroom, unclasping his dark jacket and shrugging out of his black tank top, he twists himself around to look at his back in the mirror. 

There are bruises and cuts but they’re not too bad. He knew he was damn lucky the rebound was small and it was just a stone wall. The thought of him grabbing onto someone nearby when he lost his balance in the explosions makes him shudder. Yanking out the first aid kit he bought only two days ago from the cupboard, he gets on with disinfecting the few cuts he got. Movement on autopilot and reaching back with a slightly awkward angle, the nasty scar above his left kidney catches his eyes.

Back then, when he found out there was a metal pole puncture through his whole left side in the snow, he had taken the only option he had to transmute the wound close, using his own soul like a philosopher stone and probably shaved more than a few years off his lifespan. It was a damn risky move, and he honestly, truly hopes the consequence of that wouldn't catch up to him too soon, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He was sure he would have bleed out in the rubbles otherwise. So it’s been awhile he gives it any thought and the scar has just become a part of him now. 

The sight of it is proof that he’s still alive.

What he still isn’t quite used to seeing, however, is the automail port scar at his right shoulder and the subsequent flesh arm. 

_“Give him back.”_

_“I take it you’re here to retrieve your brother. Just how do you plan on pulling an entire human out?” The Truth mocks with a combination of thousands of voices, staring at him without eyes and the grin stretched even wilder across its face._

_“What’s your payment? Do you intend to offer your own soul for an arm as well?”_

_“No, I have got your payment here.” Turning around, Ed looks up to his portal, his Gate and his alchemy, standing tall in the blinding white space._

_"This thing is mine. So I get to make the decision on how it’s used, right? Go ahead and take it.”_

_And Truth had laughed, and laughed._

Nothing can be gained without sacrificing something of the same value. 

That is the law. 

Except for lives. There is no equal trade for life.

Clutching his flesh right arm, he is reminded that there are things that can’t be put on the scale. He learned the hard way when the most precious thing was ripped from him and he went to hell to claim it back. He claimed it back. He will never, ever regret giving up his own Gate, his own alchemy in exchange for his brother, especially not when Al had sacrificed himself for his right arm just to defeat Father, ever the kind-hearted one, his brother.

So _why?_

Why can he transmute now?

Tentatively, he puts his palms together and touches the marble countertop in his bathroom. Blue spark flares and the marble pulled and reshaped into a small familiar armor statue, standing proud next to the faucet.

Then a wave of dizziness hits him and he squeezes his eyes shut and swallows. 

What on earth — 

Do these fainting spells get to do with it somehow? Is this some kind of delayed price, a _punishment_ to his arrogance?

Is it going to take back — ? 

Fuck it.

Scrambling for his phone. He presses the call to the third number on the list. This time it rings about five times before the other end picks up.

“Hello?” A sleepy male voice asks, tone irritated.

“...Uh,“ Ed hasn’t thought of what exactly he should say. When the silence drags out a bit too long the other end speaks up before he can.

“Who is it? It’s midnight and I have been sleeping, if this is a prank — “

Ed thinks if the pounding headache isn’t killing him right now he'd be very amused by the sheer annoyance that drifts from the man's tone.

“Mustang,”

There must have been something in his voice, because the man is instantly alert. 

“Edward, is that you?” 

“Yeah, I —“ the words catch in his throat and Ed realises belatedly that he must be more out of it than he thought. He tries to steady his voice and manages to get out the words. ”Al. It’s Al. Is he with you or — wait no I mean, is he at the — ?”

“Slow down, Ed. Take a deep breath,” and he does, closing his eyes and taking a large long breath and releasing it before he feels like he can talk like a normal person again.

“Is anyone in danger?” Mustang's serious tone almost makes him regret the whole call. He knows this number is only for emergencies but he _needs_ to know.

“No, — at least I don’t think so, but I wanted to be sure. When was the last time you saw Al?”

There's a slight pause as the man thinks about it. “Around 7pm in the Central Command before I left for home. Is he hurt? How do you know?”

“It’s a long story," which Ed doesn't have the capacity to explain currently. "Just, can you give him a call and check on him? I don’t have his new dorm number yet.”

“Alright. Let me call him. I'll get back to you.”

That’s probably the longest five minutes in Ed’s life before his phone rings. He picks up and doesn’t speak, waiting for the other hand to talk first.

“Alphonse is fine. He is worried about you, asking if something's wrong.”

Oh. 

He doesn't believe in God but he wants to thank all the deity that exists anyway, because oh god, that's —

“— good," he didn’t know how tense he has been until now when stress bleeds out of his body and he feels his muscles relax at the confirmation. And nothing could have stopped the slightly choked words that escape him. "That’s, that’s good. I was worried.”

“He sounded totally alright to me." Mustang reassures. "Now, tell me what happened.”

He recaps everything briefly to his superior officer, because now that he knows Al is alright, the exhaustion is settling in again and he just wants to take a bath and sleep on his bed till the end of the world. He struggled to focus and think among the fog clouding his head. After telling the basics of all the things that happened in the past hours, even Mustang sounds slightly alarmed by his sudden ability to perform transmutations again.

“It’s good that you called, I will keep a closer eye on Alphonse from now on just in case,” the man pauses. “Are you alright?” 

“Fine, just bone tired.” Rubbing his eyes, Ed replies. “Tell Al I’m good. I will call him as soon as I can but give me a few days. Want to check a few things first. Call me straight away if anything happens to him, you hear me?”

“I will, Fullmetal. Keep us posted. Just remember to write me an official report when everything settles.”

“Whatever,” he mumbles wearily.

“And take some rest before you fall over again.”

He grunts before cutting off the line.

Seems like a trip to the library is needed.

But first, a bath, then his bed.

He will leave his research and experiments for tomorrow. 

*

If anyone tells Ed he is going a little bit crazy with all these quirks and heroes nonsense, he would have totally agreed with him. 

As it turns out, he spent days in the library figuring out what’s wrong with himself and even tripled checked by experiments before he decided, yes, that’s the conclusion he is sticking with and yes, it is possible and hopefully, Al won’t think his brother is going nuts in a foreign country.

Watching the cars and people speeding through on the bustling street below, Ed leans himself onto the railing on the rooftop as he listens to the dialing tone in his phone.

There’s a click and then a familiar voice drifts out.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Al.”

“Brother!” Al exclaimed. “Are you alright, Ed? You are not hurt, are you?”

“Er —”

“What happened that night? The Bradiger General called me in the middle of the night and said you were asking for me and I was so worried— ! ”

“Wait, wait, Al. I am fine. I am perfectly fine. Alive and kicking” 

“Oh, good. Then why did you call me?”

“I was just checking on you.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story. I'd better start from the beginning.” Ed says. “Before that, how are you doing?”

“I am doing good! Bradiger General Mustang let me help with the Central Library database. Encoding the knowledge and stuff about — em, the past year, you know? They need some official record, but obviously not all of it should be documented...I am the perfect choice to be doing this, honestly.”

Right, an official record for the promised day. They did overthrow the former Fuhrer after all. It goes without saying that any knowledge about philosopher stones is better left buried. It is a tricky job and Ed doesn’t envy his brother for one bit.

“So the bastard starts ordering around you too huh.”

“Ed! Don’t be rude. It helps to have something to do rather than sitting on bed everyday. And I can do it by the desk so it won’t tire me out.”

“I know, I know. Just joking. I am glad you are getting better.”

“Thanks, Brother.” And his voice is so sincere that it brings a smile to Ed’s lips. “How about you? You doing ok in Japan? Last I heard you’re planning to settle in there.”

“I am doing great. You have to hear about the food here — ”

Ed drones on about his favorite octopus balls (which he learns is called takoyaki now). He really hopes he can bring some for Al to try. They chat for a while before he brings it up.

“Al, I think,” Ed swallows, the result from his research past week sounds absurd but Al needs to hear this. Maybe he can even offer some input. 

“I think I developed a quirk.”

There’s a gasp, then Al exclaims. "What do you mean!?”

“Do you remember how I gave up my Gate?”

“Of course. We talked about it often enough when we were figuring out the logic behind that.”

He recaps the slime incident to Al.

“So, I felt this electric feeling on my skin, and when I accidentally brushed my hands together and touched the wall, it —“ Clenching his hand, Ed can recall the sensation of the familiar rush of energy when he slammed it on the wall. It felt like alchemy, yet it couldn’t be. 

“It transmuted.” Al finishes it for him. “And you didn’t expect it.”

“Yeah, and afterward I was drained to a point I passed out on the floor in my apartment for six hours straight.”

“ _What?_ That’s — is the villain attack that bad?"

“No. I hardly did anything at all.” He thinks back to the search result he saw on the computer screen in the library. “That’s why I was suspicious, passing out after is without questions not normal for any alchemical transmutations.”

> _Quirk Medical Direct Wiki_
> 
> _The effect of Quirk Overuse varies among individuals depending on the nature of respective quirks. Nevertheless, common symptoms of quirk overuse have been identified. They can be summarized as follows:_
> 
> _\- Sudden Fatigue_
> 
> _\- Difficulties in quirk control; usually followed by_
> 
> _\- Inability to use quirk_
> 
> _\- Dizziness or/and Nausea_
> 
> _\- Headache_
> 
> _\- Fainting_
> 
> _\- Symptoms disappear after rest_

Ed tells him. “Turns out the symptoms I suffered are exactly like quirk overuses.” 

After finding that Ed has done some experiments. He tried transmuting every little thing and sure enough, he’d get more and more tired after every transmutation. Like every time he used it, energy was seeped out of him and he would need to rest to replenish it. Alchemy certainly never caused that. All his life, at most alchemy could drain him out was when he did so many transmutations at once that his brain was nearly fried from calculating all the equations and circles in his head. But never had it physically tire him out. Like there’s a limit on how many transmutations he could do.

What’s happening felt like he was using a new, untrained muscle that caused him pain every time he overdid it.

“And Al, I really shouldn’t be able to perform alchemy anymore after everything.” Ed admits quietly. “So that’s the only possible explanation I can find.”

He doesn’t know how the hell he can develop a quirk now, if at all, not to say one that is nearly identical to his alchemy. But that’s the most possible answer after dismissing even more improbable possibilities like — he somehow can use alchemy again despite giving up his own Gate months ago. He’d like to believe the former reason anytime if that means he gets nothing to do with the Truth _ever_ again. Just the thought that it may affect Al’s well being makes him much more eager to dismiss the idea.

There’s a moment of silence on the other end as Al processes his words, and Ed can hear the distant honks and chatter coming from the cars and people down the roads below before Al speaks up again. “Brother, can you still feel the tingling feeling around quirks?”

“No.”

“Actually, I think it is possible,” before Ed can panic Al probably catches his unease and adds. “For you to develop a quirk, I mean. Not you doing alchemy again.”

“Uh, why?”

“No one knows what causes the appearance of quirks, right? And they say the reason Amestrian can’t develop one is because there’s something in them suppressing the quirk factors. And Ed, you must be the most untraditional Amestrian we got —”

Ed snorts.

“— so what if, somewhere along the way, you managed to get rid of whatever it is that was suppressing your quirk developing in the first place?”

Ed blinks. Something that he got rid of...

“...You mean like the Gate?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I read your last report. You said you never saw or heard anything about alchemy in the outside world, but then it’s the same for the other way round; No quirks in Amestris. I’m just thinking perhaps the reason we are unable to develop quirks has something to do with the presence of alchemy.”

Yeah, one of the first things Ed noticed after leaving his country is that there’s no alchemy wherever he goes. Totally nothing. Just like no Amestrians ever developed quirks, it seemed the art of alchemy didn’t exist at the outside either. At the time, he thought in a world full of powerful quirks alchemy had just been overshadowed, being an art that needed extreme precision to use and dedication to learn.

Even though they can’t pinpoint the exact cause for Ed’s sudden quirk appearance — like is it alchemy as a whole that stunted the development of quirks in their people? Or maybe there's something particular that is suppressing it, like a Gate?

Or is it something he did that is different from the others that makes this possible? Because that would be quite a long list — It can be him performing human transmutation in the first place, or passing through the Gate so many times, or the fact that he lost his Gate completely. Damn, Al isn’t joking when he said he isn’t the most traditional Amestrian man. Technically, he isn’t even an Amestrian in blood because he is half Xerxesian. Fuck, there’re so many variables...

But Al is not wrong. Quirk and Alchemy. They never coexist as far as they can see. Maybe there’s a reason the two cannot exist at the same time.

“Not to mention you are the first person from a quirkless population to stay that much time around quirk users. That tingling sensation you said? It can be one of the triggers for all that we know.” There’s a thoughtful silence before Al speaks. “It’s just a guess though. It’s been a hundred years, anything can happen.”

Still, Al has his point. This is a good direction to study.

“Al, you’re a genius.” Ed breathes out, awed.

“Well, I take after my brother.”

That makes Ed choke on his spit and laughs.

The famous Elric brothers a.k.a the pair of alchemy prodigies, people always forget they come together. Despite being mistaken as the Fullmetal Alchemist all the time, they tend to overlook his little brother once they realise the fact that Al, indeed, isn't the state alchemist because he is _taller_ , and forgotten that Al still grew up with him buried in alchemy books in their father’s study. 

The thought ignites something warm in his chest and he can’t help but agrees. “We’re kind of a package deal.” 

Their chuckles wear off as their conversation falls into a comfortable lull.

“By the way, I applied to a hero school.”

“That sounds so exciting, brother, but I can’t imagine either of us being in school.” Al says with a laugh. “Do they beat up kids like Teacher did?“

“To be honest, I have no idea,” Ed snorts. “Just handed in the application and I still need to take an entrance exam.”

“The Bradiger General will support it. It’ll be good for quirk studies.”

“What, support? Have you seen him? I have no doubt the guy will just tease me! Oh, that pipsqueak is going back to school. Perfect! Right where he belongs to in the same height group — no wait, he shouldn’t even be in high school, it’s too _high_ for him — “

Al interrupts him with laughter in his voice. Ah, it’s so great to hear it without the echo of armor. “Stop that, brother! He wouldn’t say that.”

“He absolutely will, just so you see.”

“Ed, I need to go now, get to finish the work.”

“Alright. Take care, Al.”

“I will! And you too, brother.”

As Ed turns back around to pockets his phone, he takes a final glance to the fantastic view of the city from his spot and pushes himself away from the railing, walking away with a spring in his steps.

*

“How curious.”

Nezu was looking through the pile of applications this year when he stumbled upon this particular one. It is one of the applications from the international students. Even though local applications are much more common in UA, students from other places aren’t rare, seeing that their school does have a good reputation in the world. 

But this one, though.

The profile photo shows a boy with golden hair tied into a braid with sharp golden gaze, staring at the camera with an extremely bored look on his face. His feature is not particularly striking compares to the variety of quirk users in Japan but what caught the principal’s eyes is the nationality he wrote down: 

_Amestris._

Now that’s a name that makes him take a double take. Not only has UA never admitted a student from Amestris before, Nezu himself has never in all his life met anyone who comes from there either. 

There are rumors surrounding the country, of course. People get intrigued by secluded places like that.

They say people in Amestris are all quirkless, and the country has strict rules of people going in and out. Obviously, the military government doesn’t take kindly to anyone who crosses into their border without permission, which they don’t give out any, especially to people with quirks. How can they defend themselves so well against people with quirks is a mystery. Amestris has a history painted in wars so for all he knows it can be due to strong military force or the country reputation is enough to stop anyone from bothering them.

The point that gained the principal attention, however, is having an Amestrian student applying for UA — a hero school in Japan of all places. There has been news of the country having some civil conflicts a while back and he wondered, does a student showing up here suddenly have to do with it in any way?

And in the information provided in the application, the row of quirk is filled in:

_Matter Manipulation — comprehension, deconstruction and reconstruction._

So either the poor handwriting on the form is deceiving him or Amestrian is not as quirkless as people think, Nezu muses.

Whatever the case, UA accepts students who have hero potential, whether they come from an isolated country or not does not matter. 

Still, Nezu can’t help but look forward to seeing this kid in the entrance exam. Perhaps then he can get a good peek about what this mysterious place called Amestris is like.

Curious, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been sitting in my document for awhile, I feel like it isn't perfect yet but I really did my best editing it. Hope you all will like it. 
> 
> The next chapter update may takes longer. I just quitted my last job and finding a new one right now. So, it's taking up most of my time and it's kind of stressing me out, tbh:( Wish me luck. And thanks for all your support and comments, it means a lot to me when I am struggling with the writing! :D


	3. An Exam

“Beep. Beep. Beep.”

The sound of alarm wakes Ed from his dreams. Extending an arm out of his warm comforter, he grabs for his phone from the bedside table to stop the annoying sound before burrowing himself further into bed, shivering from the brief contact with cold air outside. Distantly he can already hear the morning wake-up caws from the crows. 

Quirks can be trained. That’s what they say.

It is exhausting and extremely annoying, sometimes more than a bit frustrating to train something you have mastered your whole life from sketch. It’s not like he didn’t know how to do it but it’s like his body didn’t catch up with his mind. Quirk or no, he’s still an alchemist — Ed won’t allow himself fainting every time he transmutes. That’s just unacceptable.

So he flings the comforter away and braces the cold. Washing up, he walks back to the bedroom to pull on his red running hoodie. He’s gathering his hair into a ponytail with hairband between his teeth when the book catches his eyes. It’s still open on the desk from yesterday night. 

**Quick Dummy Guide to Quirk Training! Vol.10**

Looking back, Ed can’t believe he has read ten of these stupid books all these months, but he will admit they had their uses. This new ‘quirk’ of his had given him a creepy feeling back then. It’s overly similar to his original alchemy that whenever he transmuted, he felt like he was violating the laws and Truth would show up on his doorstep with its signature grin in place. It’s disturbing, to say the least. Having something solid to remind himself this power is not the same as before did help settling his mind a bit.

Sticking a heating pad on his automail joint, he makes sure it won't move before rolling down the trouser leg to put his trainers on. He grabs the key and pocket watch and locks the door behind him, greeting the still dark sky in early morning. February cold air kisses his face as he starts his jog around the neighbourhood with white air puffing out of his mouth. 

In the past ten months, Ed has gained a better sense about this ‘quirk’ thing, surprisingly, from a personal perspective. Who would have guessed he can use himself as the subject of his quirk studies? 

Unlike alchemy, quirk is more like a physical ability, as many of those stupid dummy books suggested, it’s like training a new body part he’d never known he had before. He needed to stretch its limit repeatedly to make it stronger. As a result he lost count on how many times he passed out from pure exhaustion while he kept transmuting everything like crazy, but it paid off. Endurance, scale, precision — he has pushed himself far much beyond what he was capable of when he first discovered his quirk months ago.

Thanks to the dozens of research reports he sent to Mustang about his training, hopefully drowning the guy in countless paperwork, he got to keep his pocket watch and become the first ever State Alchemist without alchemy but with a _quirk._ What an irony, he thinks.

Despite that, his mission is far from finished, and he still needs to get himself in a hero school. Speaking of that, Ed sighs, pausing his jog to stop by the vending machine for a drink. 

He will admit he never had much interest in the whole hero thing. Yes, he applied to a hero school and it sounds exciting to him, but his main focus is on studying their quirks (and maybe the chance to beat up some bad guys because he really misses the adrenaline rush). But after the first month here, Ed quickly realizes it wasn’t the case for the rest of the folks in Japan. He found out, in here, heroes are everything.

He comes across them 24/7. The news boardcasting what the heroes did, some stupid TV programs talk about the hero rankings, and 80% of the advertisement everywhere has some heroes’ faces on it. Hell, even when people talk, they talk in relation to them, like when he went to the clothings stores.

“Excuse me, how much is that red hoodie?” Ed had asked, pointing to the far-end of the shop. 

The guy by the cashier had taken one look in that direction and said. “Which red hoodie do you mean? Edgeshot red or Crimson Riot red?”

He nearly flipped the shop assistant off right then and there, because _really_? For Truth’s sake, the guy couldn’t just say the color like a normal fucking person?

“The dark red one.” Ed wished his look could kill then.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t because the guy had the decency to add with a smile. “Ah, you are not from around here, are you?”

That’s just one of the examples.

Heroes also patrol the streets, meaning that wherever Ed goes, he sees them. There’s even once he’s caught in a crowd because there was an impromptu autograph signing session of a famous hero near his building. Then there were those _fan meetings_. 

So that’s the thing, when Ed said he had been the Hero of the People and handed in the application, he hadn’t thought it meant being a damn _idol_. Sure, he enjoys praises and spotlight back home but not like this. 

These kinds of bullshit is Mustang’s area, not him. 

“Ugh!” just the image of the bastard flaunting around is enough to piss him off. Crushing the can is his hand, he chases the image out of his mind in a huff. He kind of misses the iron grip of his automail when he dumps the half-crushed can in the bin.

As the sun starts to come out, he is about to head back home. Then a wild scream breaks through the silence in the morning, scaring all the crows in the trees. 

*

Usually, when you hear somebody screams their lungs out at six in the morning, normal people just bury their heads back into the futon, cursing for whatever happened then ignore it in order to get some more sleep. 

Ed aren’t normal people, and he’s already out of bed. 

He understands with experience that crimes can happen at all hours, not just in the dead of a night. And he knows, screaming, more often than not is all a defenseless person can do in a dangerous situation, especially when the screaming doesn’t stop. 

So he runs. 

He figured someone is in trouble, like getting caught in a burglary, or some murder maybe. He doesn’t expect a half naked, green curly hair kid screaming on top of his lungs to the sky with his eyes squeezed shut by the beach, standing on top of... a huge pile of trash? 

“AAAAAAAHHH—! ” 

“What the...”

Before he can register the strange sight in front of him, the screaming stops, and the kid sways from where he is standing. 

Ed moves before he can think, that’s why he didn’t see the blond man standing a few feet behind him, staring at the green haired boy with awe in his eyes, more than ready to run in to catch the boy. He knows he won’t be fast enough so a resounding clap echo through the space as Ed slams his hands into the sand, a palm shoots out and rushes forward to catch the falling boy. 

The hand is lowering slowly to the sand when Ed reaches there and the boy falls into his arms.

“You alright?”

“All M...“ he mumbles as he stares up blearily, disoriented.

“What? I can’t hear you.” 

“Young Midoriya!” Ed turns around, the tall man is running towards them. He has dull blond hair and his skin is sunken around the eyes. Simply put, he looks sickly and old. The call seems to shake the green haired boy out of his confusing state though, green eyes widened the next moment and the boy flails around to get out of Ed’s arms. He lets him. 

“W-What!?? Oh my god! I am sorry! For a moment there I thought you were All — “ The boy stutters and keeps bowing to him as he apologises.

“Young Midoriya, are you alright?” The man asks as he reaches them, cutting off the kid.

“Yes! M-Mr. Toshinori!” If Ed didn’t know he’s very far from Amestris right now, he’d say the kid nearly snaps a straight salute to the guy.

“What the fucking hell was that?” Ed can’t help but ask, and the boy’s face paled but Ed continues. “You were screaming for the whole neighbourhood to hear at what, six in the morning?”

The kid's eyes widen before his face goes bright red, “Oh no, I didn’t realize — ” 

Raising his eyebrows, Ed just looks at him, wondering what the hell is the problem with the boy.

  
  


*

Izuku hasn't, in a million years, expected this.

When Izuku has finally finished hurling the last bit of trash out of the Dagobah beach onto the road this morning, waiting to put on the truck to carry away, he couldn’t help but stare as the light of dawn showers on the sea and sand. It was such a breathtaking sight and his heart was filled with so many emotions that he followed his heart for once and climbed on top of the pile of trash, screaming his heart out.

He was overwhelmed by the realization that he did it, that he’s going to take All might’s quirk and attend the entrance exam of UA. He is, finally, going to become a hero...! So, he didn’t realize how exhausted he was from pushing his body way over his limits until he lets everything out and he felt black spots around his eyes. 

For a moment, the ground disappears under him, and the world tilts sideways. Vaguely, Izuku hears the sound of a clap, the brief loss of gravity, then he finds himself enveloped into a warm embrace. 

“All Might…” he pulls a tired smile when he saw the familiar blond hair above him.

The voice replied him sounds slightly off but before Izuku can think clearly about it, All Might calls out and it’s certainly not from the person holding him. “Young Midoriya!” 

It snaps him out of the haze and he looks up. Instead of warm blue eyes, golden ones stare back at him. No wonder he has mistaken him as All Might, Izuku thinks as he takes in the sight. Long golden bangs are framing around the stranger’s face not unlike the number one hero, but now that Izuku is looking closely, he noticed the two are nothing alike. The most distinct feature is probably the long blond hair, which is pulled into a ponytail at the back. 

And the eyes, the piercing golden gaze. Despite the obvious concern in it, there’s a fierceness in the gaze that kind of reminds him of his explosive friend and — then he becomes aware that he’s staring at the stranger.

_He’s still in the arms of an unknown stranger._

“Oh my god, I-I am sorry!” Izuku hurries to get to the ground. 

_How rude of him to gawk a stranger like this—!_ In his panic, he nearly outed All Might before the man managed to cut him off. Did the boy notice? He hopes he didn’t. What if he has just careless let out All Might's secret!? Luckily, the stranger doesn’t seem too alarmed except questioning his sanity in screaming his lungs out at six in the morning.

This reminds him, he takes a look around the beach and turns to his mentor and breathes out. “I...I did it.”

Toshinori nods at him with a proud smile. “Good work.”

The blond boy looks confused before gesturing to his training pants. “You were training?” 

Izuku steals a glance at All Might before answering. “Em, yes. I’ve been cleaning those trash on the beach as training. I was just so happy that I finished it on time and grateful for everything that I…” Izuku paused, he’s rambling again, isn’t he? 

“I guess I just needed to scream it all out.” He trails off with a sheepish smile. “Anyway, thank you so much for earlier! I am Izuku, Izuku Midoriya.” He bows.

“Edward Elric.” the boy, Elric nods to him before looking around, seemingly realizing the clean state of the beach. “So it was you huh?” 

“You live around here, young man?” All Might asks. 

“Yeah, next to UA.” At that, the tall man coughs and Izuku gives him a worried glance. 

“I should thank you for your timely arrival, I would have caught young Midoriya myself but...er” the man is cut off as Elric looks up and down at him before raising one eyebrow, clearly conveying: _Are you sure?_

That’s when Izuku realizes the problem. All Might in this form looks like a frail old man that any small wind can blow him away. With a boy training by hauling trash around, it’s clear that Toshinori wouldn’t be able to catch the falling boy, instead he’s more likely to be crushed by the things around at this state... 

Oh no, he can see All Might is sweating now. 

“Toshinori-san is here to watch over me in case I hurt myself or anything. It must be a scare, to see me fall from that height.” Gulping, Izuku tries.

“Yeah, old man. You look a bit pale, do you want to sit down?” Elric frowns.

“O-Oh! I am fine, don’t worry about me!” Toshinori shakes his head.

Izuku’s sure the boy’s eyebrows go higher at their reaction, but thankfully, he doesn’t comment on it and just sighs before nodding towards them. “Next time, you probably shouldn’t let your grandson climb that high, he could’ve break his neck if there’s no one to catch—”

At Elric's words, blood burst out of All Might's mouth.

*

Shocked, Ed stares at the man, jaw dropped.

The sight is so nolgastic in his eyes that he just gapes at the man when the Midoriya kid fusses around the guy. It reminds him so much of Teacher before he remembers what he said. Oh, are they not related? 

Is it rude to assume stuff like that in front of people here? He just thought so because no way the man can be a trainer, and the only reason an old man will be up this early to watch over a kid to train? They have to be related, right? He heard Midoriya calling the guy Toshinori-san, but the honorific in Japanese is still pretty confusing to him so he wasn’t sure.

“N-no!!! Mr. Toshinori is not my g-grandfather!!” Well, the green kid looks terrified at the idea.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to assume—”

“It’s fine! It’s fine, really.”

“You sure you ok? That was,” gesturing to the old man’s blood-stained shirt. “—quite a lot of blood.”

“Oh no no no! We’d be fine. Don’t worry about it. Really thanks for your help.” The Midoriya boy bows to him again, face like a tomato.

Ed can see a dismissal when he sees it, but the two seem — he doesn’t know how to describe, awkward? Maybe he did offend them after all? Guess he still needs to work on the culture thing. He sighs mentally. He will admit he is not a very polite person per se, but his brashness is his choice and he’d like to choose when to insult people when he feels like it, not accidentally offending someone without meaning to.

In any case, it’s not his business and it’s about time he heads back. He gives a wave as he walks back to the beach entrance. “Well, be careful not to crack your head open next time. Good luck with your training.”

It is when Ed's half way back to his apartment that he thinks the green hair boy looks vaguely familiar. _Have they met before?_

Shrugging, he concludes the boy probably lives around here, so maybe they crossed roads at some point.

*

Later that day, standing at the entrance at UA, Ed has a brief déjà vu of the day he had the State Alchemist exam. He remembers stepping through the fortified walls with Al and stared up at the Central Command in awe. With emerald flags hung from the walls and the well-known Amestris emblems —the silver tail-curling dragon that now resided on the cover of his pocket watch— printed on them. The sight of the building had felt quite imposing and maybe slightly intimidating back then.

Now, the high-rise school building looming over him has all but lost its grandiose element, after living literally next to it for ten months. But still, perhaps it’s the atmosphere, under bright sunlight the chattering of excited students and their bubbling nervousness for the upcoming exams brings back memories of older times.

As he walks towards the academic building, Ed reaches into his pocket to pull out the envelope containing his exam ticket .

It seems like he’ll get a written exam first, then there’d be a break before he has to go to the hall for a briefing, and the practical. He wonders what would the practical be like, at least this time psychological evaluation is not needed. He’s not sure threatening the principal with a spear to the throat can work this time.

“Your seat is in the last row.”

Following the man’s instruction, Ed makes his way to his seat for his written exam.

While he speeds through the test, his mind wanders.

When he applied for the hero school, he half expected his application wouldn’t go through. Partly because he’s from Amestris, an entirely unknown place to people here. Another part is that he knows the information he provided on his application is sketchy. It’s not like he had a normal education before. So he may have faked his school record a bit. Home schooled up until now, which is true to an extent, but he left out the fact he has been enlisted in the military at 12 and just participated in a recent coup.

Surely, that would catch attention real fast.

But maybe, being from an isolated country has its perks, it kind of throws off people's expectations. People here probably think there are no schools in Amestris or something, because everything went smoothly.

So here he is, tapping his pen on his already finished paper creating numerous dots over his answers.

Ten month had been a much, much longer period than Ed had thought. Having such a quiet lifestyle for such a long time is a bit too much for him to be honest. He can't even sit still in an exam.

He focuses on the other examinees instead. 

In front of him is a student who has several purple balls up his head and, to his delight, much shorter than him especially when he ducks his head down in the paper, still mulling over his answers. Then a few rows ahead of him there's that girl whose body is totally invisible, Ed is only able to make out her shape solely due to her clothes. How the fuck is that possible, Ed has no idea and he decides not to ponder on the absurdness of quirks right now. He doesn't want a headache. Behind the girl is a boy with ash blond spiky hair, Ed can't see his face but from the casual way the guy slouches on his seat, he must have finished his paper as well. 

When the alarm in the examination hall beeps at last, he immediately jumps out of his seat to exit the hall. 

_Finally._

He leaves the examination hall so fast that he failed to notice how the hall has erupted into groanings, complaining about how hard the exam has been and how many of them couldn’t finish it in time.

*

Before they get the orientation of the practical exam, participants are allowed into UA’s food court to get some snacks and water to rest. And Ed is a bit taken aback by the sheer number of people being packed into the cafeteria. 

“Hey, do you mind if I sit here?” A dark hair boy gives him a tentative smile, holding a tray of food gesturing the seat opposite to him. 

“Sure,” Ed glances up from his own bowl of rice, when the boy doesn’t move he realizes his mistake. “I mean no, I don’t mind.”

The boy gives him a grateful smile before setting his tray down.

Ed looks around and finds that there’s really not many seats left. Some examinees just opted to stand aside nursing some drinks. 

“How can there be so many people?”

The boy just sat down startled a bit when he realizes Ed is talking to him. 

“I have heard it’s always like this every year? Many people apply for UA. Besides, they held the entrance exam for all the courses on the same day.”

“All the courses?”

“Wait, you don’t know? The boy stares.

“Uh,” Ed pauses, now that the boy mentioned he remembers seeing something about business and general education classes. It just somehow slips his mind. “I guess I just focused on the hero course and its curriculum?”

“Wow, man. So you are aiming for the hero course too! Same as me.” The dark hair boy answers with a grin, his teeth are sharp like sharks.

Ed watches the boy’s enthusiasm as he chews on a piece of chicken. Doesn’t that make them competitors or something? But the boy doesn’t seem to mind too much. Obviously happy to chat with someone. Mostly the boy does all the talking and Ed just nods along.

“ — and they say the practical exam can be pretty hard. I just hope I can pass whatever they let us do...”

Despite the easy attitude the boy tries to aim for, his nervousness is bleeding through. Well, he seems too hung up on that for his own good.

“You will be fine. Worrying too much doesn’t help anyway.” Ed remarks absently, pushing the milk container away from his tray with distaste. He’s not touching that.

When he looks up he stops because he sees the look the boy gives him — with stars and tears in his eyes mumbling something about manly and encouraging an opponent — Ed feels slightly alarmed and tries to suppress his eyes from twitching. The reaction reminds him of Major Armstrong enough that he has the sudden urge to run as fast as he could. 

What? What did he say? He just told the boy to quit his nerves, didn’t he?

Before Ed can decide to pull away and head out of the cafeteria for self protection. A female voice calls from behind.

“Ah, Kirishima, you’re here!” Turning around, Ed sees a girl with pink skin and horns on her head waving at them. “Let’s head to the briefing together, your seat is next to mine.”

“Thanks, dude!” The boy stands up with his tray. “It’s really manly of you.” 

“No problem…?” Ed tries. 

“I am Kirishima, Kirishima Eijiro!” And the boy grabs his hand for a shake.

“Edward Elric.” 

“You going?”

“Em, right. Let's go.” And Kirishima beams at him.

Wow, he thinks he just made a friend? 

Oh, Al will be so proud of him.

Following the two after putting away his tray, Ed finds himself sitting in a hall full of examinees waiting. He parts ways with Kirishima because they are assigned different seats. He's looking around at the teenagers around him when a loud voice suddenly calls out making him jump. 

“ _WELCOME!_ Listeners, to the orientation of the UA entrance exam!”

Ed glares at the man, who called himself the voice hero Present Mic, standing in the front who styled his blond hair _ridiculously_ tall. He can’t help but question the fashion in this country again and feel strangely offended by the way the man blatantly increases his height like that.

Hell, even Ed doesn’t do it! He’s got his own antenna on his head but does anyone see him gel his braid up like an angry scorpion?

“I’ll give you all a quick rundown of the practical exam.” The man continues despite the lack of enthusiasm from the audience to his energetic yell. “Are you _reeeady_?”

Silence.

“That’s cold.” The man wipes an imagined tear out of his eyes before starts explaining their practical exam.

“For the practical part of the exam, you’ll all participate in a ten-minute mock battle in our training ground. Please head to your assigned practice center after this briefing, okay?”

Ed glances down to his admission ticket. Training Ground A.

“At each practice centre, there’d be three types of virtual villains. For each of them, use any means you get to defeat them and you’ll earn respective points.” 

And there, pictures of three types of high-end robots show up on the screen. Robots is nothing new to Ed considering they're actually quite common on the streets, usually near the police station as they use them for security scans. But he didn't know there're _combat robots_ in the market. No, probably not commercially, these robots certainly belong exclusively to the school and Ed tries not to gawks at the screen, because all of them have weapons like machine guns and lasers on them. And are those grenade launchers on the 3-pointers? Ed lifts an eyebrow. Even with quirks, are they really going to pitch such strong firearms on middle school kids?

To Ed's eyes, these kinds of weapons can certainly be counted as military grade and cannot fathom a school, of all place possessing them. Just how rich is UA?

Feeling his adrenaline pumping, Ed grins. He can't wait for seeing them up close.

Then the boy with glasses asked about the fourth villain bot.

“Thank you for your question!” Present Mic points to the new robot on the screen. “The fourth one is the zero points. He is an outcast. It’s just a gimmick that will cause a ruckus throughout each center. You can destroy it, but there’s no point. So listeners, I advise you to avoid these guys.”

Why would they even make a gimmick in a ten-minutes examination if there’s no point? Ed frowns. 

“That’s it for now. Finally, let me end this with our school motto. The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said — true heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life,”

And Ed looks up at that. 

Present Mic gives them a dramatic pause before continuing. “Over and beyond, **PLUS ULTRA**!!!”

“I wish you all the best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, I am back with a new chapter! Thanks a lot for all the encouragement in the comments, I found a new job:) It's my first time trying to change the POV like this, hope it isn't too confusing. I think it'd be funny to let you see what's going on in Izuku's head lol. Hope you enjoy it! Stay safe!
> 
> p.s. I modified the summary, now I understand why ppl keep saying writing the summary is hard. IT IS!


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